PICKING UP THE PIECES.
❝You thought you could break me? honey, you aren't the first.❞
Isabel Stark has lost the memories of her past. They haunt her during her sleep. The Avengers, the only family she's ever known, has disbanded. Her childhood fri...
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I stood outside of Hawkes's office, his guards flanking me while their boss spoke to my father through the voice call. From what I could tell, neither had lost their patience yet. Thomas leaned against the hallway wall across from me, not meeting my eyes. Honestly, just a singular eye that moment, as my right seemed to be swelling and bruising fast from the beating I had received in the holding cell. The heavy ankle bracelet I wore beeped every so often, a reminder of how powerless I truly was in a time I needed to be my strongest.
"How could you?" I rasped, my throat dry and scratchy. The boy looked up at me for a moment before his brown eyes quickly flicked back to the ground. "You saved my life both in and out of the Framework... just to bring me back to the place we fought so hard to leave as kids?" I coughed up remainders of dry blood that had laced my throat, spitting it on the ground. "The Framework, Thomas. I took bullets for you. We spent months fighting together, a family!"
"Quiet," one of the guards hissed, and I yelped as he dug his elbow harshly into my side. Thomas looked away, wincing as well.
"Hawkes started visiting me in my dreams a few days after we got to the Avengers Compound," he admitted. "I don't know how... I thought I was just hallucinating. He knows how to bring my sister back." I narrowed my eyes, a painful action, at Thomas in confusion.
"Your sister... but she's-"
"-dead, yeah," Thomas nodded, his hands curling into fists as he was reminded. "The Elemental Program wasn't meant for us to just be the next generation of soldiers. With our powers combined, we can bring back the dead. Jenny's death can be erased!"
"I... no," I shook my head, trying to comprehend what he had just dropped on me. It made sense, how our powers could work together. This was why Hawkes wanted us here. Not for total control... but for ultimate power. Enough of our blood could give modified powers, but it was risky. If he had every Elemental's DNA, he would be unstoppable. "No, Thomas. I know Jenny's death was a tragic accident, but she's gone. We have to accept that."
"No we don't anymore," Thomas dismissed me, coming up to me and taking my hands. "Don't you get it? You can finally be with your brother again! Peter can see his parents again! We can right the wrongs that were done to people, make up for the mistakes we've caused. Isabel, you could meet your parents, your real parents. Think about how different life could become!"
And I did. I thought about the brief memories I had with Pietro and Wanda when I had first met them, the ones I had in the Framework... then I thought about the memories I had with my father. I thought about the nights we spent curled in his theater room where he introduced me to his favorite movies, taught me little niche tricks he had picked up at random moments of his life. I thought of Bucky, who day by day I was remembering more and more of how he kept me safe throughout my entire life. My life wasn't what it should have been, but what amazing things I got out of it I loved... and deep down, I knew that not everything would go according to plan if I tried to change the past. Life is funny that way.
